MICHAEL GARDYNE watched the Edinburgh clubs serve up a treat on Sunday and now wants Tayside to do its bit as Scottish football faces up to the loss of Old Firm derbies.

It’s likely to be at least three seasons before Rangers and Gardyne’s old club, Celtic, meet in the league again.

But the Dundee United playmaker hopes that doesn’t stop viewers from tuning into Scottish football after a new TV deal was struck with Sky and ESPN.

Hearts boss John McGlynn wanted to show the world there was more to our game than just the Old Firm – and those who watched his club battle out a 1-1 draw at Easter Road were entertained.

Now the spotlight will turn to Tannadice on Sunday for the first City of Discovery clash in the top flight since March 2005.

The Dundee clubs have already upstaged their capital counterparts as the match is a sell-out. Now it’s all about putting on a show for armchair viewers and Gardyne just hopes his side come out on top.

The former Ross County star said: “Sunday is a massive game for both clubs and it’s sold out despite being on TV which adds even more to it. This type of fixture is huge with Rangers now out of the league.

“Hibs and Hearts really went for it on Sunday. Now it’s up to the Edinburgh and Dundee clubs to make those derbies even more special with people worried about losing the Old Firm game.

“I’m from Dundee so I know exactly what this game means to everyone. It’s big for the city and the boys are really looking forward to the match.

“I’m excited at the prospect of being involved as it’s the first competitive match between the clubs for almost eight years.

“You can already feel the buzz building in the city. It’s great with Dundee coming up and it looks like being a full house. You couldn’t ask for much better.

“I don’t know what the punters are saying – I’m keeping myself in the house this week. Seriously, the build-up is good and if you’re in town the fans are full of comments wishing us well.

“It’s good to have home advantage but with the amount of Dundee fans expected to turn up it’s maybe not such a big factor. It’s a Tayside derby so that should be enough of an incentive to win the game.

Michael Gardyne - Dundee United

“We played them in pre-season and won 3-0 but I don’t think that will come into it this week. That was a friendly and Dundee were struggling a bit for bodies so this will be totally different.”

Peter Houston’s players are desperate to get the 5-0 Euro thrashing by Dynamo Moscow out of their system after their weekend trip to Celtic Park was postponed with the Hoops away in America.

Gardyne said: “It has been a bit of a long wait to get back out on the pitch since the defeat to Dynamo.

“We were looking forward to the Celtic game and gutted that it was off because of their friendly with Real Madrid.

“But if you were to pick one match to come back to and put that Europa League defeat right then I’m sure it would be a derby against Dundee.

“Hopefully we can get the Russian disappointment out of our system. The manager just wants us to get on with it.

“It was a bad result. We spoke about the need to start well before the match but we didn’t do that. The important thing now is not to dwell on it too much.

“Europe is over for us this season and the aim has to be to get back there. We have big games coming up so we have to give the league our full attention.”

Gardyne was speaking as he helped promote Weatherseal’s Home Advantage Challenge and posed for a picture with Tayside rival Ryan Conroy at the top of Dundee Law, overlooking the city.

Michael Gardyne (left) and Ryan Conroy

But he hopes to be looking down on his old Parkhead team-mate from the SPL table after Sunday.

Gardyne said: “I played with Ryan for a number of years at Celtic so I know him inside out.

“We had a few Old Firm derbies together at reserve level but it was even hard to get into the second team at Celtic because big boys would be returning from injury.

“We were trying to get a game in front of Juninho and Paul Lambert – a World Cup winner and a European Cup winner.”

? Dundee United fans can enter the Weatherseal Home Advantage Challenge online at www.facebook.com/weatherseal until tomorrow at noon.